3rd month in and still struggling with fatigue

(Jackie ) #1

So I started keto on 05/15/18 and have lost 26 pounds and have experienced many benefits (sleep better, no cravings or hunger, less brain fog, no bloating, less headaches…) but there are days that walking to my car feels like I ran a marathon. My macros are 75/20/5 based on 1250 calories. I am a stickler and don’t go over often - more likely to be under. Many days I end at about 1000 cal. I am peri menopausal , 53 and mostly sedentary. I have been trying some exercise but can’t do much because I am so fricking tired. Driving me crazy. My brother started at same time as me and he feels great all the time - says he feels 25 again. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

#2

Hi Jackie, well done for your amazing weight loss so far! That must feel great…

Please stop counting calories and up your fat to increase energy. Good fats are your friend. Eat fats to satiety.

Also, are you supplementing sodium, magnesium and potassium(be careful with potassium)? Electrolyte imbalance can cause all sorts of issues.

Have you had bloods done to check your thyroid levels, iron content and electrolytes? If not then definitely worth doing so you know what you need. All of these can influence tiredness.

I’m sure others will also give you suggestions. Good luck and do let us know how you get on :smile: Ali

(Deb) #3

Great start and congrats from this 56 year old!
Excellent advice above! Definitely add more calories, especially fat. I eat TONS of bacon (the ready kind that you microwave), cook everything in butter/coconut oil, etc. It sounds like perhaps your bg is possibly way low also, not necessarily a bad thing but I know if I go below 80’s, my head is on the desk! If you don’t track it, it might give you insight.
And again, what was said above, electrolytes, mag, potassium very important, especially in us older babes!
As you get skinny, you have to replace energy from body fat with energy from dietary fat. That is your only energy source.

(Jackie ) #4

Thank you Buffy for the feed back. I have read so much and see a lot of contradictory info out there. I calculated my calories and macros from one of the sites. Some sites say up my vegies while others say I don’t even need vegies, keep my protein at .6 of lean body mass while others say .8. Very confusing – so I have stumbled along. I am happy about the weight loss but I would really like to feel better consistently.

It is nice to hear from someone that has been there and done that. I will take your advice and up my electrolytes and fat and let go of the calories. .

Thank you and have a great day.

(Jackie ) #5

Thank you Deb - I will up the fat and electrolytes this week.

I know I should go get my blood done but I was waiting to get skinny - they insist on telling me how obese I am about 12 times a visit with a follow-up email but I will suck it up.

Appreciate the feedback - have a great rest of the day.

#6

Hi Jackie,
I started on 12th Feb and have T1D( for 45 years) plus post menopausal . To date I’ve lost 12 kg =26.45lbs. I talk in kgs as lived in NZ for a number of years, now back in UK.

You are doing really well! I don’t track closely. As a T1D I’m used to tracking carbs so I am strict on carb counting BUT I don’t track protein closely, just try to ensure not too much as affects BGs in absence of carbs. I eat fat as much as possible since I’ve learnt that the more fat I eat the greater the weight loss. I’m what some call doing “lazy keto”. The term doesn’t bother me, I’ve never felt better and I’m enjoying life once again after nearly 3 years in the menopause wilderness.

My hubby started eating the keto way 5 weeks ago and still is lethargic despite all the electrolytes. So today I’ve bought him a Vitamin B12 spray to boost his energy levels until he becomes fat adapted. Another thought?

My final thought would be to suggest getting your HbA1c done also, but also tracking your BGs yourself, since high BGs also cause tiredness. Maybe you are prone to the effects of protein on your BGs in the absence of carbs??? Are you pre-diabetic range?

Apologies, too many options. Please try one thing at a time and eliminate what doesn’t work for you. Happy to keep in touch :smile: Ali

#7

Forgot to say, I don’t judge anybody by their size so ignore the ignorant people commenting on your weight. Sensible people judge other humans by their kindness to others and to animals. Be very proud of who you are and what you do! :sunny:

(Anne) #8

I’m sorry your doctor makes you feel you cant get appropriate treatment when you need it! I’ve gotten to the point where I politely refuse to be weighed at my gp, and when my rheumatologist office nurse tries to hand me the yellow “you’re fat!” Worksheet I just don’t take it.

I will admit I yelled at my last rheumatologist when he said I need to lose weight. I’m 30, I’ve been trying to lose weight since I was 14! He actually said “have you tried weight watchers” and I lost it. Of course I have! Three times, from when I was a sophomore in high school and followed the program slavishly and lost ten pounds total over an entire summer.

My current rheumatologist listened to my lecture on why I’m not actively seeking to lose weight and refuse to have a scale in my house and he looked at my numbers and said “well you aren’t gaining weight so it’s fine. We’ll only revisit the issue if you gain weight.” And considering I weigh around 290 at 5’10" that was a pretty major success!

It’s hard to find a doctor who really listens and cares about you as a person apart from your BMI, let alone one open to keto! Please get bloodwork done, though, and definitely try eating more! That kind of fatigue isn’t something you should have to live with.

(Jackie ) #9

Thanks Lilyanne. I am really uncomfortable with doctors - a bit of a phobia :flushed:. I haven’t had a good one in many years. It seems to me that they just focus on some list they have (with obesity on top) and don’t hear and/or discount what I have to say about how I feel. I have had to have 3 surgeries in the last 5 years and all of them were for things I went to the doc for help with and they discounted until the issues became emergencies or debilitating. I recently changed to a woman doc and am hoping that we work better together. I will set my appointment up and get my blood work done :white_check_mark:

#10

Jackiebarr, wow, congratulations on your past few months! Those are some amazing changes.

Thanks for this thread. I needed to read it. I hit a major wall today, a little over a month in. I was so wiped out that I didn’t feel safe driving. Now I have a major headache. But my electrolytes are the same as they’ve been all along… I think my calories are too low.

Whenever I run into a glitch, I worry, thinking it won’t work in the long-term. Does it ever reach a point where you get all the good parts of keto with none of the unpleasant side effects?

(Jackie ) #11

There have been so many good things since starting keto (no monthly migraines, less achy joints, sleeping better, downs 26 pounds, and a bit sharper :flushed:) that I was ignoring how tired my body was. I tend to gloss over the bad when really excited about something. I’m going to try some of the suggestions from Buffy and Deb and see how it goes. Feel much better today. Upped my electrolytes and calories ( which I’m not even going to track this week). I’ll see tomorrow how I feel.

I have had great days and terrible days. For me - I re-evaluate every weekend how the past week went and make my plan ofattack for the next. I know that keto is for me, but I am still looking for the little tricks to make it work better. Yesterday I walked to the kitchen area at my office for some coffee and had to sit down while it poured out because I couldn’t stand :weary:.

That’s why I came here. There is so much info out there and I’m confused. I am thinking that if we listen to these other women who have been doing keto with success we will find our own way and what works best for each of us. Let me know if you find anything that helps you :grinning:

(Deb) #12

Sounds like you have a plan! And I’d forget the exercise for now…just my thought. No use stressing yourself any more and it doesn’t help fat loss at this point. When you get closer to skinny, we’ll get you into a top notch body re-comp program! So just chill, girl!

#13

I agree! Forget the exercise. Focus on nourishing your brain! Adding two tablespoons of coconut oil to your day can really help with that. Also, keeping your salt levels high is important.

I didn’t feel totally fat-adapted till around month 4-6 myself - but when I got there, everything just seemed easier, and speedier.

You might also want to look at your B vitamins intake. I’ve found supplementing with grassfed beef liver capsules daily (I take four in the early afternoon before my first meal of the day) to be quite amazing for my energy.

Apparently organ meats were prized and preferred by land-based peoples, probably because of how great they make you feel! These days there are lots of high quality grassfed organ meat supplements, for those who aren’t quite ready to venture into searching for quality organ meat and then preparing it for meals, etc.

And, bone broth (I make mine from collagen peptides powder) and marmite/vegemite are also packed with B vitamins.

Eggs are also packed with B vitamins and great for energy (esp raw pastured/grassfed chicken egg yolks added to smoothies or coffees, as in Martina Slajerova’s recipes in her Ketodiet Cookbook - just the yolks, not the whites). That is, if you can tolerate chicken eggs due to their arachdoinic acid (more on that in the LCHF/keto book Protein Power). Also, fish eggs which can be gotten in some Japanese restaurants, wrapped in seaweed, called Nigiri are very energizing, if you find yourself at a Japanese restaurant!

(Deb) #14

Also just another quick thought, have you checked your blood pressure? Just thought of it because my Dad had an episode this week of really low bp and he could barely get himself off the sofa. That might indicate dehydration/low sodium, etc.

(Anne) #15

Stories like that are all too common, where doctors ignore a fat patient’s legitimate illness until it becomes life threatening or requires surgery. I highly recommend the blog and podcast Do No Harm, which aims at removing weight bias in medicine as well as educating and advocating for patients!
My heart sank as I read your response because i know exactly what you are going through, I’ve been there too! It never came to surgery but I spent close to a decade on unnecessary pcos meds trying (failing) to treat symptoms of undiagnosed celiacs/rampant inflammation. And at each each endocrinologist visit I’d weight the same, or more, and my symptoms would not have improved, and instead of examining why these supposed perfect solution drugs weren’t helping I got lectures on how I had to be mis-calculating eating and exercise.
There are doctors who will listen to patients and treat them as people no matter their weight, but they are shockingly hard to find! I know your goal here is to lose weight, but please know you are worthy and deserving of health care and respect just as you are right now! And any doctor who makes you feel otherwise isn’t worth your time or money. And, in an ideal world, shouldn’t even be practicing.

#16

Hi @buffy, I agree with everything you said!

#17

@Jackiebarr – sorry to hear about your medical team’s lack of empathy and support. I have gotten similar comments that I need to lose weight, which is one of the most useless comments a doctor or nurse practitioner can make! I agree with the recommendation to get your thyroid and A1C checked, because you could be low thyroid and/or have a high A1C. Best of luck!

#18

Hi Talia, Yes, Yes, Yes; you will become fat adapted and you’ll feel like a new woman! We’ve all been through or are going through strange stuff: its natural- your body is changing and it will sort itself out. It needs to heal. I was lucky, despite being T1D for 45 years and overweight I hit the magical state at 6 weeks. Some people get their quicker and others take longer. We’re all unique! Never forget that. If you’re having a bad day drop us all a line; we all support each other :smile: Ali

#19

Thanks, Buffy. This was really encouraging!

(Tracy) #20

When the last doctor said that I should try to lose weight, I told him that I’ve been dieting since 1975, so thanks. :rofl: I too am tired of being summed up by medical professionals by the extra fat I carry, and treated as if I sit around on the couch all day stuffing my face! :stuck_out_tongue_closed_eyes: